Home of the Fashion Pipeline

For 8+ years, our sister company the Dayton Emerging Fashion Incubator (DE-FI) LLC paved the way for Dayton, OH to become a Fashion Destination by becoming one of the most influential fashion organizations in the country. From their unique sold out fashion experiences, to the mentoring of talent, and supplying the tools to build brands. They served as the blueprint for not only peer organizations to re-think and re-imagine #TheFashionExperience but also for local businesses, co-working spaces, and business resource centers. 

Realizing the significant impact fashion has on local economies from sewing lessons, to pop-up shops, boutiques, and fashion shows; (DE-FI) envisioned fashion as a driver for job creation, cultural growth, trade development, and tourism. Building on Dayton's long manufacturing legacy, the thought leaders behind our fashion advancement program developed our space to serve as the connector between resources and opportunities available in the Gem City to help aspiring, emerging, and established fashion talent build sustainable businesses that can compete in the global fashion industry.

In December 2021, (DE-FI) passed the baton to us as we ushered in a new chapter with our parent company (DE-FI) Global INC LLC (DGI). The mission of our parent company DGI is to have meaningful economic impact on American fashion by giving fashion designers access to technical product development, business tools, training to create innovative products and launch globally competitive businesses based in the Miami Valley. On March 27th, 2021, we opened a 14,737 sqft space inside of the Dayton Mall, to help talent build their team, business, and brand. The space comprises of a micro-manufacturing workroom equipped, cutting tables, sewing machines, and pressing stations where sewists will produce designer’s lines and sample collections. The House of (DE-FI)ance also consists of lecture spaces, photography studio, writer's nooks, a model lounge, work stations equipped with computers, printers, and web cams, a conference room, podcast space, and more.

This fashion based maker-space brings the community together — cutting across ethnicity, race, class, gender, sexual orientation, geography and age — to explore new creative possibilities. The House of (DE-FI)ance serves as a resource center that provides fashion and business of fashion talent with educational tools, research assets, and programming to help further their growth and development. 

Our #FashionAdvancement program, backed by the Council of Fashion Designers of America CFDA's Connects program will take the talent beyond just doing another show, we will provide you with essential tools to aid in your development as both creative artists and successful business owners. Additionally, our goal is to support paid internship programs in partnership with leading fashion design programs in Ohio, as well as hosting other public programming to promote and encourage fashion design education and foster public appreciation for all aspects of fashion, design, and history. 

We celebrate beauty in all forms and have launched the careers of over one thousand people who have gone on to:

•  Sign with agencies around the world
• Be featured on some of fashion's biggest stages including New York, Paris, and Milan's Fashion Week
• Appear in campaigns for Kohl's, Versace, Micheal Kors  and Marc Jacobs
• Be profiled in InStyle and Vogue
• Appear in national commercials, prime time tv, and films
• Have designs featured in Vogue Italia,Shape, Ebony, and Ellements
• Have worked behind the scenes of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week
• Been scouted by some of the top fashion design programs and companies around the country from FIDM, to Kent, to DAAP, to Ross to L  Brands
• Have been named to Forbes Under 30 Fellows list
• Designed for A List celebrities at the Grammys, the Oscars, Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala, Paris Fashion week, and the Tribeca Film Festival
• And more. 

The Disruption began with our rule breaking  sister company (DE-FI),  one of the Miami Valley's best kept secrets that has been hiding in plain site for nearly a decade and coined the term "The Fashion Experience" in 2013.  By taking advantage of Dayton's close proximity to Cincinnati where Macy's had headquarters, Columbus  where L Brands was headquartered and who is ranked 3rd in the country behind NYC and LA for the most fashion designers in the country, and Cleveland where Hugo Boss was once manufactured.  (DE-FI) built a reputation for their in your face boldness, (DE-FI)ance of the status quo, and barrier removing  support for aspiring fashion and design professionals from around the country.   

When (DE-FI) first launched, they were told that fashion and design have no place in Dayton and that people here don't "look" like that or "dress" like that.  Since 2013, (DE-FI) has worked to prove them wrong by not only promoting the talent in our city, they've also attracted talent from around the country that has traveled to Dayton to gain first hand knowledge and experience in the fashion industry. (DE-FI) also has an international following making them one of the most influential fashion organizations in the U.S. causing a shift in how regional fashion organizations in the Midwest operate that has rippled around the world.  As a result of the community focused work of (DE-FI), the Gem City is taking its place as the Fashion Capital of the Midwest bringing a piece of the $900 billion dollar a year fashion industry pie to the Miami Valley. 

In 2017, (DE-FI) announced a shift in programming and plans for a fashion co-working space during the Grand Finale of (DE-FI) Fashion Week.  In 2018, they went through a rigorous 8 month update of their strategic plan, and in the Fall of 2018 they announced he final details of their plans for a co-working space at their Open House during A Weekend of (DE-FI)ance.  In the Fall of 2019, (DE-FI) led a series of public planning session for this space and gave the public a chance to chime in on the space. In the Spring of 2021, after 3 years of planning...our House became a reality and the  mold creating and mold breaking work  of (DE-FI) continued. In the Winter of 2021, another shift in programming and structure was announced with (DE-FI) Global INC becoming the parental holding company of the (DE-FI) and its subsidiaries. and the House of (DE-FI)ance now serves as the incubator.

Our mission is to enrich the Dayton, Miami Valley, and Midwest regions through the business of fashion and design via economic growth, the strengthening of our garment district, education, community outreach, and fashion and design retail opportunities.   The House of (DE-FI)ance: A Fashion & Design Co-working Experience is a combination of professional and educational opportunities promoting community,  competition, collaboration and connection.  We are an innovative and groundbreaking one stop Fablab  created to help you establish, develop, and grow your brand.  

#ThisIsOurHouse